Is there such a thing as “privacy” when our lives are so digital these days? The answer is, yes, but you have to be proactive about it. Why? Everything we do online leaves a trail of behavior and personal information that makes us a constant target for marketers and scammers alike. Countless companies mine, sell, trade, and hoard our personal information to hit us with ads, political agendas, or various other sneaky ways to get our hard-earned money.
We recommend the basics, like cleaning your cache and cookies once a month, using a password manager and always opting-in to two-factor authentication. But that’s not all, and now there’s a new tool to help you keep your privacy, well, more private.
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT PERSONAL DATA THAT COMPANIES ALREADY HAVE?
Consumer Reports just came out with an awesome tool that’s totally free called Permission Slip. This game-changing app comes to us thanks to a handful of data privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These laws mandate that people now have the power to opt out of having their personal information sold AND give us the right to request companies delete personal information.
These laws are great — but who has the time to reach out to every company that has their data and requests for it to be deleted? Not me. That’s where Permission Slip comes in. Permission Slip simplifies the process by letting you to make these requests with one click.
HOW DOES PERMISSION SLIP WORK?
It’s as easy as swiping through a deck of cards—literally. After logging into the app and filling out your name and information (which Consumer Reports says they do not sell), the app prompts you with ‘company cards.’ These cards include companies like Taco Bell, Alltrails, Ticketmaster and even PornHub (oh c’mon, you’ve heard of that one too). Tap a card, scroll to the bottom, and see two options: ‘Do Not Sell My Data’ or ‘Delete My Account.’ A simple tap on the one you want and Permission Slip kicks off the process. Even if your state lacks a privacy law, many national companies honor these data privacy requests.
Essentially the app acts as an intermediary on your behalf to protect your personal privacy. After verifying your details, it sends emails and completes paperwork for you. The status of each request appears in your dashboard on the app. At times, companies may request extra details to fulfill your requests. Some companies make things a little more difficult and may reach out to you directly. For example, when I used the app to try and delete my Alltrails data, I received this email:
After the initial contact and following any additional hoops some companies might make you jump through, companies have 15 days to opt out of selling your data and around 45 days to delete it altogether.
It’s important to note that you might not want to delete your data from all the companies that have it. If you use their apps frequently, it might benefit you for them to have your data. For example, if you ask Yelp to delete all your data, that means you are also deleting your account with Yelp.
DOES PERMISSION SLIP WORK ON GOOGLE, META, AND AMAZON?
The unfortunate answer to this one is no, not really. These companies don’t technically ‘sell’ your data. They hoard it and stockpile it to target you with ads. Permission Slip points out some ways you can download and look through the information these mega-companies keep on you, but it’s a complicated process that requires a ton of time.
IS PERMISSION SLIP WORTH IT?
Yes.
The more control you have over your digital footprint, the more control you have over your personal privacy. Also, the less information companies have about you, the less likely that data breaches will affect you. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a thing we have to worry about in this digital landscape.
Permission Slip is a great tool to protect your personal privacy. It’s not perfect, but we hope it just keeps getting better. It definitely cuts down the time it takes to reach out to these companies that have your information one by one.
Who knows, maybe one day, it will have the power to keep all of big-tech from snooping on you. Fingers crossed!